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Chicomm Blog

The Pros and Cons of Public Safety Live Video Streaming

Posted by Lisa MacGillivray on Wednesday, November 18, 2015

A decade ago, social media was largely thought of as something reserved for teenagers or college students. It was often regarded as silly or mindless (after all, how much do you really care that Steve bought a new shirt?) and wasn’t exactly high up on the list of technologies law enforcement would consider using.

Video StreamingToday, we know that those early ideas of social media are largely outdated. While millions of people still flock to Twitter or Facebook to share updates about their life, social networking is being used by thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country to better connect with the communities they serve. This can include posting live updates to a crime in progress (keeping citizens informed) or even showcasing the “behind the scenes” life of police officers (department transparency).

One of the latest social media technologies that is catching on is that of live video streaming. There are two main players in this market, Twitter’s Periscope and its rival, Meerkat. Using these smartphone applications, anyone can live stream video from their device and broadcast that video to anyone, anywhere in the world. This technology is quickly being adopted into the public safety sector, and for good reason, but as with any new technology, you always need to consider the pros and cons before fully adopting it into your strategy.

The Pros of Live Video Streaming

Without a doubt, staying connected with the public has become one of the most important jobs of law enforcement. Citizens want to be constantly updated on public safety information and look to their local police department’s Facebook or Twitter to do so. They also value department transparency, so being able to see the inner-workings or personality of their local department is incredibly valuable to them.

That’s where the benefits of public safety video streaming come in: you can use these apps to keep your community updated and comfortable with your department. Take these three examples, for instance:Public Safety Dispatch Center

1) Traffic Updates: Imagine the power goes out at a busy intersection downtown. Your department sends a few officers to coordinate the traffic patterns while public works gets the power back on. One officer could actually use a live video streaming application to show the community what the traffic currently looks like, and people may even get to experience it through the officer’s POV.

2) Crime Scene: With as easy as it is to pull out your smartphone and push “record,” it is becoming increasingly popular that someone, somewhere, has captured a crime in progress on their personal device. So if a crime is in progress, and your officers are set up in a mobile command center near the crime scene, you can have an analyst review live streaming video from the public nearby to see if anyone has (or presently is) seen anything of note.

3) Department Updates: Does your department do a lot within your community to engage with the public? Say it is the holiday season and your officers are hosting a toy drive - live streaming video of the event may generate more interest and people coming down, as well as show the fun side of your department (and gain public respect and trust).

The Cons of Live Video Streaming

As with any technology, there are typically cons to take into consideration as well as the pros. For live video streaming, the biggest con is arguably increasing the risk of revealing too much information.

If a crime is in progress, take a hostage situation for example, law enforcement needs to be incredibly careful of the content they share with the public. If an officer is streaming video of the scene that includes the tactical strategies of his fellow officers, that information can be used by those carrying out the crime to avoid detection or worse, cause harm to the officers.

Since live video streaming is completely open to anyone, you never know who could be watching the content your department puts out. So, you need to be absolutely sure that you have rigid policies in place for what can and cannot be streamed, and that all of your officers use their best judgement before sharing any updates via social media.

To learn more about the best technologies and equipment for law enforcement, you can schedule a free consultation below!


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